Summary

Reigning Olympic champions in the K-2 500 [Nina Gopova-Trofimova] and [Galina Alekseyeva] were in attendance at the 1980 Summer Olympics in a bid to defend their crown and were also representing the reigning World Champions. They were certain to encounter a challenge from East Germany, winners of the 1977 and 1978 World Championships, who sent [Carsta GenÃ¤uÃ] and [Martina Bischof] to the Games. Romania, meanwhile, had medaled at each of the last three World Championships (silver in 1977, bronze in 1978 and 1979) with [Agafia Buhaev] and [Nastasia Nichitov], but the latter was not present in Moscow and thus Buhaev was partnered with [Elisabeta BÄbeanu] instead.

The Soviet Union bested Romania in the opening round, but it was East Germany who posted the fastest time. In the final GenÃ¤uÃ and Bischof were far and away the best crew on the water and the won gold by a margin of over three seconds ahead of the Soviets, who lost their title and were forced to settle for silver. Hungaryâs [Ãva Rakusz] and [MÃ¡ria ZakariÃ¡s], meanwhile, snuck ahead of the Romanians and captured silver by a margin of only 0.09 seconds.

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